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Microsoft CFO Connors resigns
By Joris Evers

Microsoft Corp. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) John Connors is leaving the software maker and will become a partner at Seattle area venture capital firm Ignition Partners LLC., Microsoft and Ignition Partners announced separately on Tuesday.

A replacement was not immediately named and no date has been set for Connors' departure. He will stay on to assist with the transition to a new CFO, a Microsoft spokeswoman said Tuesday. The Redmond, Washington-based company will consider both internal and external candidates to fill the position, it said in a statement.

Connors has been with Microsoft for 16 years, the last five as the company’s CFO. Microsoft has gone through many changes during those years, including the forming of seven independent profit and loss centers, the phasing out of employee stock options, several major legal settlements and the handing out of billions of dollars in dividends to shareholders.

"I will miss Microsoft a great deal, but it’s time for me to move to a new chapter in my life," Connors said in a statement distributed by Microsoft. "I’m looking forward to a greater emphasis on community and business participation in the Northwest."

At Ignition Partners, Connors will focus on investments in enterprise software and services, the Bellevue, Washington, company said in a statement. Ignition was founded in early 2000 by former Microsoft and McCaw Cellular executives and has approximately US$750 million of funds under management, the company said.

Connors' departure is a bit surprising, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft Inc., in Kirkland, Washington. Still, Connors has been with Microsoft for a long time. With many major projects done, now is probably a good and quiet time to leave, Rosoff said.

"I think he has probably been looking for other challenges. He could not leave before now because there was always some new big thing coming around," Rosoff said.

A replacement most likely will come from within Microsoft, Rosoff said. "Microsoft has historically not done well hiring high-level executives from outside the company. They don't seem to last very long," he said.

Posted January 12, 2005 01:41 AM |